Construction Career Academy students compete in tiny...

1of6Teams of seniors at Construction Careers Academy show the tiny homes Wednesday morning, May 18, 2016 they built for the third annual Parade of Homes competition, sponsored by the Northside Independent School District. The homes are all fully-functional buildings that are 152 square feet or less.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

2of6Frank Sitterle left, of Sitterle Homes, and Gilbert Sanchez of HomeWerks, leave a tiny home built by seniors at Construction Careers Academy as they judge the home Wednesday morning, May 18, 2016. The students built the home for the third annual Parade of Homes competition, sponsored by the Northside Independent School District. The four homes are all fully-functional buildings that are 152 square feet or less.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

3of6Students at Construction Careers Academy built this and three other tiny homes, part of the third annual parade of mini-homes at the academy, which is at Warren High School in the Northside ISD. The homes will be sold at a public auction Saturday.Photo: Photos by William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

4of6Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

5of6The inside of one of the four tiny homes built by seniors at Construction Careers Academy is seen Wednesday morning, May 18, 2016. The students built the fully-functioning homes for the third annual Parade of Homes competition, sponsored by the Northside Independent School District. The homes are all are 152 square feet or less.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

6of6The students were trained by instructors in plumbing, electricity, engineering, architecture, interior design and more.Photo: William Luther / San Antonio Express-News

The names of the homes evoke the wide, open spaces of the wild West: “The Elk,” “The Grizzly,” “The Wolverine” and “The Yukon.”

Earlier this week, four representative teams of the students who built the small homes answered questions from construction industry professionals who judged the school district’s third annual parade of mini-homes at the academy, which is on the campus of Warren High School near SeaWorld San Antonio.

Interior designer and architect Angie Rivera, 18, was excited about “The Elk” model, which resembled a log cabin. Rivera said she was drawn to the math of engineering of the program but didn’t want to lose her sense of design.

“It’s good to see the finished product,” Rivera said about the houses, which are built from the ground up and include a kitchen, bathroom and living space. “There’s always something to learn.”

After the judge’s points were tallied Wednesday, “The Wolverine” house was the overall winner.

The auction will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the academy grounds, 9411 W. Military Drive. The bidding for the four homes will start at 11 a.m., along with a silent auction for sheds, lavatories and deer blinds built by students. CCA instructors said the starting bid on each home is $22,800; on the open market, instructors estimated, the structures would go between $40,000 and $60,000.

For the past two years, 110 seniors honed their skills under the tutelage of instructors who trained them in plumbing, electricity, engineering, architecture, interior design and more. Classes are followed by hands-on work on the homes.

The fully functional homes include all kinds of popular features as well as amenities that would look perfect in showcases featured on a cable home network channel. Features include reclaimed ghost wood exteriors, hardwood floors, solar panels and Tansu storage stairs, to name just a few.

Principal Phillip Edge said people from across the nation have contacted him about the students’ work. Filmmakers captured the event for “Tiny House Expedition,” a documentary and community outreach storytelling project.

“This is a manifestation of what kids can do,” Edge said. “At the end of the day, after you peel back the layers and look at what we’re doing, it’s really about preparing kids for what’s next in life.”

CCA is one of five magnet schools in the Northside district. This year, the construction magnet attracted some 500 applicants, but there was room for only 150 students.

Mike Byrnes, construction management instructor, said that in past years, the teens would start and finish the home-building project in one year. Now, students start on the homes in their junior year. Across the street from the current homes stood the frames that CCA juniors are already working on for next year.

Elisabeth Diaz, 19, knows the emotions that the teams had experienced. Last year, she was in their place, as a senior, working after school and Saturdays and during lunch hours to complete a home.

“Everyone got first in something,” said Diaz, who is studying construction science at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “I think the biggest prize was seeing them sell. It meant someone was excited about your work and what you had done. It was definitely the final exhale.”

Eric Martinez, one of the plumbers for “The Grizzly,” said there aren’t a lot of high school students his age building tiny homes.

“There’s hardly older people building miniature houses,” said Martinez, 18. “Learning this trade gives you the sense of knowing that you have the ability to be successful in life.”

Vincent T. Davis started at the San Antonio Express-News in 1999 as a part-time City Desk Editorial Assistant working nights and weekends while attending San Antonio College and working on the staff of the campus newspaper, The Ranger. He completed a 3-month fellowship from the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in 2003 and earned his bachelors degree in communication design from Texas State University in 2006.